Thursday, January 1, 2009

Web 2.0 awards

I admit it, I spent WAY too long playing on Hairmixer. This site came in 2nd place in the Web 2.0 Awards for the category "fun stuff." This site allows you to upload a picture of yourself and see what you would look like with various celebrity hairstyles. You can also see how celebrities would look if they had your hair and body. All in all, this site was totally fun. Seeing Owen Wilson's face on my body kind of weirded me out, though.

Wikis

I like the idea of public libraries using using wikis to present info. With the popularity of Wikipedia, I can imagine that a lot of customers would find this format easy to use and understand.

Here are some thoughts on various library wikis:

SJCPL's pathfinder wiki seems very comprehensive, but it might be just a little too jam-packed with info. I can imagine that it could be pretty overwhelming and confusing for first time users.

Princeton Public Library's "BookLoversWiki" is pretty cool because it encourages customers to get excited about reading and to share their thoughts with other book lovers.
Also, I like how there's a link to the catalog (SJCPL's pathfinder wiki doesn't provide this).

The "Best Practices Wiki" is great because it's well organized and not overwhelming. Bull Run Library's wiki, on the other hand, does not seem organized in the least. The different bits of info on this wiki seem to be arbitrarily listed.

Google Docs

After exploring Google Docs I have to say that I think that it's easier to use than Microsoft Word. I'm surprised that this is so, considering that I, like everyone else my age, have been using Microsoft Word since grade school and am, obviously, quite used to it.

I wish that this tool had been around when I was in college. It would have made group papers/projects so much easier. I will definitely use this Google Docs at work from now on. A colleague who works at another library branch and I will soon be working on a presentation that we are giving in the spring. Using Google Docs will allow us to work on the same document without having to e-mail each other drafts.

Also, from now on I will suggest to customers at the library that they use Google Docs instead of Word. This could prevent problems with customers creating documents in one program and not being able to open it on library computers because we don't have the program on which it was originally created.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Delicious

is awesome because: all of the web sites I use daily are now neatly organized in one place! I no longer have to clutter up the "favorites" folder on staff pcs. AND, I can access my bookmarks anywhere, and I don't have to individually bookmark sites on every computer I use.

I love making my life easier. But, I don't really care to see what other people bookmark.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Twitter

Microblogging is fun, but I would only do it with close friends. Isn't it kind of dangerous to let strangers know what you're doing every second of the day?


When I explored the site, I searched for names of popular hangouts in Columbus. It was neat to see how some people use Twitter to send the word out to their friends that they're going to a bar that night.

I also did a search for conversations about an obscure 80s made for TV movie (The Worst Witch). I couldn't believe that so many people knew about it!

It was also cool to see that some public libraries use Twitter to update patrons on what's going on in the library. I can think of a large library system in Columbus, OH who should maybe consider doing the same thing.

My twitter username: Magbar

LibraryThing

I love LibaryThing, but I feel that it would take a lot of commitment to use it reguarly. I'm not sure I trust myself to log in and add a title every time I finish a book. I currently use a notebook to record the titles that I read, so I'll have to transfer the titles into LibraryThing...

Also, what I really like about LibraryThing is that tagging makes catagorizing titles easy. I also really like being able to see the cover art.

http://www.librarything.com/home/mbarbour

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Image generators - FD Toys


Is awesome! With Warholizer I made this creation of Pretty Boy (my cat).
http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/warholizer.php

I really wanted to make a Read mini poster with the ALA Mini Read Poster Generator, but the photo that you upload has to be just the right size (the cropping option doesn't quite cut it).